1. Field of the Invention
The present general inventive concept relates to a hard disk drive, and more particularly, to a cover assembly of a hard disk drive having a structure that minimizes an impact of external shocks applied to the hard disk drive.
2. Description of the Related Art
A hard disk drive (HDD) is a device that reproduces data stored in a disc or records data on the disc using a read/write head. The read/write head is moved to a desired position above a surface of the disc by an actuator in order to read and/or write the data.
FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view illustrating a conventional hard disk drive, and FIG. 2 is a partial sectional view of a cover member of the conventional hard disk drive of FIG. 1.
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the conventional hard disk drive includes a base member 11, a cover member 12, a spindle motor 30 installed on the base member 11, one or more data storage discs 20 installed on the spindle motor 30, and an actuator 40 for moving a read/write head into a desired position above the disc 20 for reproducing and recording data.
The actuator 40 includes a swing arm 44 rotatably coupled to a pivot 42 installed on the base member 11, a suspension 46 installed at one end of the swing arm 44 to support a slider 48 that biases the read/write head 20 toward the surface of the disc 20, and a voice coil motor (VCM) 50 for rotating the swing arm 44. The voice coil motor 50 is controlled by a servo control system so that the swing arm 44 is rotated in a direction according to Fleming's left-hand rule by an interaction between input electric current of a VCM coil and a magnetic field of a magnet. That is, when the hard disk drive is turned ON and the disc 20 starts to rotate, the voice coil motor 50 moves the swing arm 44 in one direction to move the slider 48 that biases the read/write head into a position above the surface of the disc 20. On the other hand, when the hard disk drive is turned OFF and the disc 20 stops rotating, the voice coil motor 50 moves the swing arm 44 in an opposite direction to move the read/write head away from the surface of the disc 20.
The cover member 12 is assembled on the base member 11 using a plurality of fastening screws 18. The cover member 12 is typically made of an aluminum alloy by a die casting method. A thin damping plate 14 of stainless steel is attached on an upper surface of the cover member 12 so as to absorb shocks applied to the hard disk drive and to noise insulate the hard disk drive. The damping plate 14 is attached to the upper surface of the cover member 12 using an adhesive, for example, a double-sided adhesive tape 15 (see FIG. 2).
However, the cover member 12 has an edge portion 13 formed to protrude by a certain height C with respect to an upper surface of the damping plate 14.
Thus, external shocks applied to the hard disk drive may likely be focused on the edge portion 13 of the cover member 12. In this case, the shocks applied to the edge portion 13 of the cover member 12 are hardly absorbed by the damping plate 14 so that the shocks are substantially transferred in their entirety through the cover member 12 to an inside of the hard disk drive. As a result, the external shocks transferred to the inside of the hard disk drive are, in turn, transferred to the spindle motor 30, the disc 20, and the actuator 40, thereby causing vibrations thereof. Accordingly, the read/write head mounted on the slider 48 of the actuator 40 impacts the surface of the disc 20, thereby damaging the read/write head and the surface of the disc 20 (i.e., a data recording surface), and a read/write performance of the hard disk drive is negatively affected.